Statistical throughput control (STC) can be used to provide production facility personnel with an indication as to whether the production facility is likely to meet scheduled commitments, such as whether production quota will be met. Typically, production is guided by a schedule so that a tracking error can be determined with respect to how far ahead or behind of schedule production is. STC computes the probability of achieving quota given the current state of production. If the probability is low, preemptive actions, such as scheduling overtime, resource reallocation or renegotiation of commitments can be performed.
However, STC only considers a simplified model of production in which each item that is produced is assumed to have the same mean production time and variance. In print production environments, the situation is different in that production time and variance are a function of the job size. It is not suitable to use STC in such situations as these in which STC's basic tenants are contradicted.